In this section:

Charters Towers (Key Seat)

Northern Outback - Marginal Labor 2.2%

NAT gain

New Margin: NAT 2.7%

MP Christine Scott (ALP) since 2001.

Profile Vast central Queensland electorate covering mining and pastoral districts across the mountains west of Townsville. Its largest centre is Charters Towers itself, the electorate stretching west along the Flinders Highway to include Hughenden and Richmond. Further south it includes a clutch of mining towns including Moranbah, Claremont and Capella, as well as rural Jericho and Alpha on the Capricorn Highway.

History/Trivia Charters Towers was created by the 1991 redistribution, reviving the name of a district that had been abolished in 1960. Before the 1957 split, Labor dominated this part of the state on the strength of the AWU's organisation of the district's rural workers. The declining number of rural labourers and the loss of Labor's last seats in the area at the 1974 election wipe-out saw the National Party increasingly dominate the rural north. Charters Towers replaced the old electorate of Flinders at the 1992 election, which had been held by Bob Katter Jnr, now Federal MHR for the local seat of Kennedy. Created with only a narrow National Party majority, Labor had hopes of winning it in both 1992 and 1995, and the seat remained marginal for the National Party's Rob Mitchell from 1992 until his defeat by a 5.4% swing in 2001. One of the five electorates allowed to be under quota under Queensland's electoral laws. Charters Towers was held by Anderson Dawson 1893-1901, who served as Premier between the 1st and 7th of December 1899, the head of the first Labor government anywhere in the world.

2-Party Booth Result Labor won majorities in 13 of the 32 booths used in 2001, its majority in the electorate created thanks to massive majorities in the mining towns of Moranbah and Tieri, where Labor polled more than 70% of the primary vote. Victory was then assured by the split conservative vote and exhausted preferences in the National Party's heartland rural towns. One Nation recorded their highest booth primary vote percentages in the state in this electorate, at Kidston where they recorded 78.6% by polling 11 of the 14 formal votes, and 72.4% at Einasleigh with 21 of 29 formal votes. Due to their tiny size, both booths have been abolished for this election.

Main Candidates A laboratory worker and registered teacher, Labor MP Christine Scott has lived in Charters Towers since 1956. She first contested the seat unsuccessfully in 1998 before her victory in 2001. Her National Party opponent is Shane Knuth, a 36 year-old Queensland Rail welder. He is the brother of former One Nation MP Jeff Knuth.

Assessment A key marginal seat the National Party will be desperate to recover.